Opposition stalls AP house over minister's resignation

A determined opposition stalled the
proceedings in the Andhra Pradesh assembly for more than two hours
today over the issue of the resignation of Major Industries Minister
Basheeruddin Babu Khan from the Chandrababu Naidu government.

As soon as the house assembled for the day, Congress members
rushed to the well of the house demanding that their adjournment
motion on the resignation issue be taken up. They were supported by
the left parties, the Majlis, Majlis Bachao Tehrik and NTR-Telugu Desam Party, who
insisted on a statement from Babu Khan, who was not present
in the house.

Though speaker Y Ramakrishnudu maintained that he had not
received any communication from the government about Babu Khan's
resignation, MBT floor leader Amanullah Khan
went to the podium and was seen arguing with the chair, alleging
that the minister and other members of the minority community had been
''kidnapped'' to prevent them from coming to the house.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who entered the house,
tried to assure the members that Babu Khan was in his residence
and that Revenue Minister Devender Goud was trying to contact him and
bring him to the house. He also offered to have a discussion
on the issue of his party's support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at
the Centre.

Babu Khan, who was escorted into the house amidst the furore
by government chief whip R Chandrasekhar Reddy, confirmed his
resignation over the TDP's support to the BJP-led government at the
Centre, but said he would remain in the party and continue as a
member of the house to fight for the cause of the minorities in the
state, including Christians.

The minister denied that he was kidnapped, and said he had
informed the speaker about his inability to attend the house.
Saying that he had taken the decision to resign after deep thought
and to follow the call of his conscience, Babu Khan said he had told Naidu
that the party could not support a communal party either
directly or indirectly.

He cautioned the members that the communal forces would
not only target the Muslim minorities, but also the Christians as was
seen by the rising instances of attacks against these communities in
the state in recent times. "It is the bounden duty of all the
members of the house to protect the people from these forces before
it is too late," he added.

Earlier, speaking amidst interruption, Naidu said he had asked
Babu Khan to reconsider his decision in the next one or two days
and if he still felt so strongly about it, he had the right to
resign.

Reiterating that the TDP was forced to support the BJP due to
political compulsions, Naidu said there was no way his party
could directly or indirectly support the Congress.

At this stage, some remarks by NTR-TDP leader Lakshmi Parvathi led
to a series of sharp exchanges between her and the treasury benches.
Parvathi went to the speaker's podium, alleging that she was
insulted, but the speaker maintained that he had not heard
anything.

The Congress members interrupted Naidu when he charged
that the Congress had destabilised two prime ministers and the
United Front was ''formed not for power but because of national
compulsions'' and they had not sought Congress support.

He sought time from the members to circulate a statement on the
compulsions which forced the TDP to support the BJP, and said, "We
are ready for a debate."